Devil's Knot

Audience Reviews

View More

Finn W Jan 2, 2019 I don't like films that have no conclusion, but it's well told, acted and directed.

Anakin G Nov 6, 2018 I thought the movie was acted well but it felt low budget tv moving.

Anakin W Sep 25, 2018 Interesting story, being British I had not heard of this case before so now I am enlightened. Despite some criticism I thought it was a well told story of the true events. Although I read the Colin Firth character "Ron Lax" had only a minor contribution to the case itself. A heavily pregnant Reese plays a great part as the grieving mom. I didn't realise she was pregnant, I thought just overweight for the part. The story lost me sometimes, but looking at the documentaries its all a little clearer. I thought the little boy "Stevie" played a great part also. See more

Draco S Jan 13, 2018 As far as my research tells me, Ron Lax was not a central figure in the West Memphis Three Case. However, he features prominently in Devil's Knot. At first I did not understand why Egoyan wastes valuable screen time on a peripheral character. But I believe that Egoyan chose to focus on Lax because he refused to participate in the scapegoating of Damien, Jessie, and Jason. Egoyan encourages audiences to assume Lax's point of view, and that point of view which understands how terrible and tragic the act of scapegoating is. Everyone participated in crucifying Damien and co. Egoyan highlights Lax in order to condemn all those who were complicit in convicting Jessie and co. Lax represents the minority of people who actually stood up for Jason and co and refused to stand idle while three teenagers became victimized by an arbitrary and lazy prosecution, by a bloodthirsty and paranoid community, and by a crime they didn't commit. See more

George R Nov 19, 2017 Without reading any reviews (silly) we sat through all of this to conclude it was a total waste of resources on all fronts. The fact that the entire case including the behaviour of the Police & Judiciary is still unresolved & completely unsatisfactory means this is not film material but a case study to put before USA authorities to put their house in order. See more

Theodore W Sep 4, 2017 The film's not actually as bad as people say, and the recreations of the crime scene and environs is chilling, but it does suffer from a serious issue of focus. The film has no narrative about the events. That should come as no surprise since the case has no resolution, but there needs to be some direction to a film. Inasmuch as the film makes a point it's that the boys are pretty much unambiguously innocent, although you can see why Echols in particular would put people off. The difficulty is that it doesn't really spell out why they were blamed beyond being a little weird. This was a case of a Satanist panic and the film shows none of it. Throughout the film there is a startling lack of motivation for pretty much anything. You gather that police incompetence may have been a factor, but only obliquely. You get that moral panic was a problem but you don't see much of it. Probably the only area they cover well is the unreliability and coaching of the testimony, where a confession containing numerous inaccuracies can be regarded as incontrovertible proof of guilt. I think the idea was that the film would present the facts and let the audience piece them together. If so it was a noble experiment, but it hardly provides us with all the facts and we do need something more to guide us. A kid offering damning testimony that's a little out there is odd, but why is that so significant to the case? Why did the police settle so quickly on the three teens?And in terms of drama, what is Colin Firth doing when he's investigating and why does he eventually decide they're innocent? And if the three teens didn't do it then who did? It's probably irresponsible to outright point fingers at people untried in a court of law, but the film could have done a much better job at portraying alternate suspects. The Byers dad (often cited as the most likely murderer) barely even features, although they duly note his suspicious behavior in the end roll. The film Zodiac is a perfect example of the use of this form of non-narrative narrative, and it is very precise about the facts it includes and the angle it pursues. This film isn't and thus the inherently unsatisfying conclusion feels less tragic and unsettling than meaningless. See more

Read all reviews

Devil's Knot

My Rating

Read More Read Less WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW POST RATING